Hagel and Company Human Resources Blog - California, Idaho, Washington State HR News

A few years ago, the launch of the .jobs internet domain introduced an exciting new tool for online recruitment. .jobs is designed to provide a single location for businesses to promote employment opportunities and job openings within the company. The URL follows a format that’s similar to your company’s main web page. For example if your home page was www.xyzcompany.com, your .jobs domain would be www.xyzcompany.jobs.

Why Would You Want a .Jobs Domain?

A .jobs domain provides a dedicated web page for online recruiting efforts. Companies often spend a lot of money on ads promoting job openings only to send applicants to their main web page. From there, the applicant must sift through multiple web pages in an effort to find the “Careers” or “Job Openings” section … an effort that can prove challenging if your website is large or contains a lot of content. A .jobs domain provides jobseekers with the exact location of job openings and career opportunities within your organization. That means they’ll find the jobs faster and you’ll fill open positions more quickly.

More Visible to Search Engines Too!

A .jobs website can help you generate interest from candidates using search engines, like Google, to find employment opportunities. While your home page is often highly visible to search engines, your careers page may be buried deep in your website and difficult for search engines to find. On the other hand, a .jobs domain allows your career-related content to be “seen” as a home page and your job openings become much more visible.
For more information about recruiting and launching a .jobs website contact Hagel & Company at info@hagel.net or call 866-248-7755 x305.

Need Training?  Click here

~ Cartoon used with permission

Hagel & Company is offering a wide array of training and consulting in the upcoming months.  Please take a second to check them out and see which format is best for you.  If you would also like personal training, either over the phone or at your location, please let us know and we will be happy to serve you.

Training Classes

Webinars

When the economy slows, businesses tighten their belt and look for ways to cut costs and get more work accomplished with fewer resources. That’s why more companies today are challenging their human resource (HR) departments to make more strategic contributions to the organization. While HR is traditionally viewed as a cost center saddled with time-consuming and paper-intensive administrative tasks, it’s a necessary burden in order to comply with governmental regulations that require specialized reporting. The question is this … how can you streamline your HR processes to minimize that burden and transform HR into a model of efficiency with meaningful impact on the bottom line? For some, the answer is automated HR software. Let’s take a closer look.

Technology Maximizes Limited Resources

Most small and midsized businesses have limited staff to manage the many aspects of human resources. In fact, HR staff typically spends far more time performing routine administrative tasks than strategic objectives. But the simple fact is once those routine administrative tasks are automated, it has a profoundly positive impact on both the HR department and company overall. And that’s where Sage Abra HRMS comes in.

Sounds Interesting, But What Does It Do?

First things first … HRMS stands for Human Resource Management System. In the same way that ERP software automates your accounting and operations, Sage Abra HRMS automates all aspects of managing your workforce including Employee Benefits, Time and Attendance, Training, Recruitment, Compensation Management, Compliance, and more. You get hundreds of standard reports, customizable templates, automated workflow, and a full range of features that will reduce the cost of compliance, eliminate redundant data entry and paperwork, automate repetitive processes, and have your HR Department running like a well-oiled machine.

Consolidate And Digitize

Many companies rely on a combination of paper, spreadsheets, and file cabinets to manage employee information which means that hiring data, payroll records, and benefit plan elections are probably stored in multiple places. Each employee change needs to be replicated across a variety of files … a record-keeping nightmare. But with Sage Abra HRMS, all of your employee data is digitized and consolidated into a single database. This results in fewer errors and potential fines, elimination of duplicate data entry, and more timely reports and analysis.

Contact us to learn how Sage Abra HRMS can have a positive impact on your bottom line.

Human resources (employees) represent one of your organization’s most valuable assets. Maximizing your company’s productivity and profitability is largely dependent on making sure everyone in your organization is performing to their full potential. As such, implementing a solid performance review process is critical to the ongoing success of your business. It provides employees with a clear definition of what’s expected in their role and enables them to work toward the goals that contribute most to their personal and professional growth as well as the long-term success of your business.

The emerging popularity of Performance Management Software has introduced companies to new and innovative ways of automating the workflow of performance review tasks, reducing manually-intensive paperwork, improving the quality of feedback and collaboration, and reducing the stress associated with the entire process…which ultimately results in more satisfied and productive employees.

The Problem with “Manual” Performance Reviews

If your company is like most small and mid-sized businesses, your performance review process probably consists of a loose collection of tasks that include manually collecting annual evaluation forms and other labor-intensive, paper-based procedures. This inefficiency can be very time-consuming and often puts a heavy burden on human resource personnel, department managers and anyone else involved in the review. As a result, performance reviews are often delayed or, in an effort to just get through the process, less thorough and less useful to both the employee being reviewed and to your business.

A New Era of Automation

A growing number of companies are discovering the benefit of performance management software that offers a completely automated and totally paperless approach to performance reviews. By automating performance reviews using a software solution, companies discover that it’s easier to route forms to the appropriate personnel, streamline workflow with automated email reminders, provide managers with more complete information to reward individuals based on actual performance, and much more. In fact, here are some of the top benefits that performance management solutions offer:

• The paperless process improves efficiency, reduces duplicate data entry, and provides instant access to reviews from one centralized location (instead of digging for a review buried in a file cabinet!).
• Built-in workflow features provide for electronic routing of forms for review and approval.
• Automated email alerts remind personnel of open items, approvals and next steps.
• Gain powerful insight through reports and analytical dashboards that provide a visual snapshot of review progress as well as identify performance trends across all employees within a company or department.

Collectively, these features save a tremendous amount of time and effort as well as lead to better quality reviews. In addition, automating your performance review process can result in a return on investment in the form of increased productivity, optimized compensation based on actual performance and a reduction in hiring and training costs through better retention rates.

Performance Management Solutions

There are several performance management solutions available, both on-premise and web-based, that offer a range of features and price points to fit your needs. Contact us to learn more about automated performance appraisal software or to discuss your needs.

President Obama signed legislation on December 19, 2009, that extends the eligibility period for the COBRA subsidy. Originally, only those involuntarily terminated through December 31, 2009 were covered. The timeframe has been extended to individuals who are involuntarily terminated through February 28, 2010. Additionally, the legislation extends the length of time in which eligible employees will receive the subsidy, extending the period from nine months to fifteen months.

For up to date information on this legislation visit: https://www.hr411.com/legal-updates/?lu=6947992 

We wish you a warm holiday season and rewarding upcoming year!

Thank you for all the support you’ve shown us this past year – we look forward to working with you during the New Year!

The Staff of Hagel & Company

Frank Hagel, Aaron Simon, Angela Tutton, David Osmer, Jeff Moan, Kelly Jo Drllevich, Terri Gresham & Kerry Wolf

December and January are the months to end the year and start a new year with your HR and Payroll software.  There is no better time to make sure you are ready for the year ahead.

Hagel & Company has the expertise to help you accomplish your goals.

We have designed two discount packages that will give you flexibility to have one of our expert consultants assist you in the following areas: 

• Package A:  10% Discount on a Half Day (4 hours) of Consulting 
• Package B:  15% discount on a Full Day (8 hours) of Consulting  

Take advantage of these special discounts when booking your consulting days by January 22^nd 

Please call Aaron Simon at (253)572-2439 x 301 or click HERE to book your time now.

*Any additional time will be billed at our regular rate

**Travel expenses may be in addition to package rate

Benefits enrollment can be a rigorous, paper-intensive process for many HR departments.  With the ever-increasing cost of health insurance and other employee benefits, it’s important to identify effective cost-containment strategies.  One such strategy is to leverage technology and the efficiency that can result from Online Benefits Enrollment Software.

What is Online Benefits Enrollment Software?

Online benefits enrollment software allows employees to use the Internet (or their company network) to access information about benefit policies and prices.  Employees are guided through the process of selecting the benefits they wish to participate in and enter the necessary information into online enrollment forms.  This data is immediately available to HR for review & approval and can automatically update the HRMS system, thus eliminating duplicate data entry.

The system can also provide HR staff with online tracking and reporting features that allow them to easily monitor the progress of each employee through the open enrollment process.  Automatic email reminders can be delivered to employees who have not completed the enrollment process in a timely manner. In addition, newly hired employees can enroll in benefit plans and current employees can update information from life events that impact their benefits.

What is the Bottom Line Value it Can Bring to My Company?

• Reduced HR Call Volume – because employees have direct access to a tremendous amount of detail during the online enrollment process, they are able to quickly find answers to common questions on their own.
• Shorter Cycle Times – According to Sage Software, a paper-based open enrollment process can take 6 to 8 weeks (from assembly & distribution of forms to manual completion and return of those forms to the HR department).  Online benefits enrollment software can cut that process down to 3 weeks or less.
• Eliminate Duplicate Data Entry – you can completely eliminate duplicate data entry with an online benefits enrollment solution that integrates with your existing HRMS software.
• Reduce Material Costs – paper, printing and postage are all but eliminated by removing paper from the process and directing employees to electronic resources for forms and benefits explanation.

Benefits Enrollment for Sage Abra HRMS

Your Sage Abra system offers a Benefits Enrollment module that will save your company countless hours and piles of paperwork.  Sage Abra Benefits Enrollment takes the powerful benefits management solution of Abra HR to the next level by empowering employees to make their own benefits elections online through the Internet or intranet.  Easy, step-by-step wizards guide administrators through the benefit plan set-up process, and walk employees through open enrollment. It even includes year-round life events management that allows employees to update information such as marital status and dependents.  Perhaps best of all, it’s completely integrated with your Sage Abra HRMS system which eliminates duplicate data entry.

With Sage Abra Benefits Enrollment, your HR department will be less engaged in routine and time-consuming clerical tasks and more focused on improving strategic initiatives such as employee recruitment, compensation strategies and career development planning.  Save paper, time and money with Sage Abra Benefits Enrollment.